Unique Window Frame Decor {with photos & details!}

Happy Wednesday y'all (or whatever day it happens to be as you read this).    Today I wanted to share with you a little craft I made last summer.  It's a piece of decor made from an old window- BUT WAIT...  Now before you close this tab thinking this is the same old window piece you have seen everywhere, let me explain why it's not.  There are a three reasons I made this:

1. We have had this lovely 6-panel window sitting in our basement since 2012.  We were going to hang it at our wedding but let's just say that this DIY Bride ran out of time and totally forgot. I felt bad that my husband put in effort getting it and making it able to hang that I wanted to do something with it.

2. I participate in the Open Class (adult) division of our local 4-H and they had a new category called Memory Makers *I think* and it seemed like this frame could be used some way for this project.

3. Uh, hello... frame decor is adorable.  The only reason I haven't made one sooner is because I just didn't want one full of pictures only (or pictures and blank space for writing or fabric or whatever).  Pinterest only made my longing worse without giving me the answer I was looking for.

That's why I made this...

[Can I start by saying I'm so sorry for the terrible photos!  Our home is not lighting-friendly and it took all I had to just keep a funny window refection out of the photos and brightness editing only goes so far.  This was not a craft I could just put under better lighting.  Try to see the project through the awful photos.]

So why is this different?  It doesn't just include random pictures.  Each set (top and bottom) goes together to re-create an important memory.

For example: The first set in my window includes the date, location and some descriptive words (such as "will you marry me?" and "down on one knee" to memorialize when my now-husband and I got engaged.  I also included "Our Big Adventure" because that's what we called our Route 66/Grand Canyon trip and it turns out it was the start of our big adventure too!

On the bottom of this set I included a photo from us in the spot we got engaged, the pamphlet/map from the trail we were hiking and some little buttons for decoration (the soda top says "Road Trip" which I thought was a perfect fit).

For our wedding set, I included a photo and my favorite card from our "guest book".  So simple and powerful- "Be happy, Stay happy".  The wife in this couple actually passed just before I made this so that adds an extra special element to this piece (they were a beautiful example of how a marriage should be and I love to be reminded of that.)  For the birth set, I included our first family photo, the hat he wore in the hospital (it was the cutest little pumpkin outfit) and an "it's a boy!" decoration that my in-laws hung in our house.

For the other two sets I also included the dates and detail words (such as "Mr & Mrs" or "I love you" for the wedding and information like time and weight for my son's birth)

On each set, the top panel was filled with the descriptive words, dates and locations in varying fonts and sizes.  I rotated white, black and grey vinyl at each word/set of words to keep each phrase together.  This was done directly on the glass so the color of the wall shows through!

I painted the wood with a medium brown paint and added white paint to add a sort of distressed look.  I would have left the paint exactly how it was when I found it (naturally distressed!) but the muntin bars (the pieces that divide the sections) were a different color so I had to make them all match.  This window is actually one large piece with "fake" muntin bars to give the illusion of 6 separate panes.  Another thing my husband did because I wanted it that way for the wedding (oops!)

That's It!
What do you think about this window craft?  The scrapbooker in me has to have information along with her photos and so I love the way this turned out!  What would you put in yours?

Happy Crafting,
Kelsie Ann